Thiruvananthapuram: Jacobites to form ‘human wall’ November 12

Thiruvananthapuram: A delegation of the Jacobite Syrian Church met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the Assembly here on Friday seeking his intervention to allow burial of their church members in the cemetery controlled by the Orthodox faction. The delegation apprised the Chief Minister of the problems being faced by the Jacobite faction following the Supreme Court verdict giving the ownership of the churches to the Orthodox faction.

Priests of the Jacobite faction said after the meeting that they will organise a 'human wall' in front of the Secretariat here on November 12 to protest against the denial of burial rights in churches.

A synod of the church will be held on November 22 to discuss the issue. Jacobite Metropolitian Trustee Joseph Mar Gregorious told reporters here that the Jacobite faction was willing to respect the court order. Members of the Jacobite church were facing human rights violations as they are denied the rights to conduct the last rites of their relatives according to their faith, he said.

The Supreme Court in 2017 had held that 1,100 parishes and their churches under the Malankara Church should be controlled by the Orthodox faction as per the 1934 Malankara Church guidelines.